A different take on Modular Abilities?

[JCurwen3]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Is there any point to using Cosmic instead of regular Modular Abilities in this case?

Nope, for 1 ability you'd use Slotted Cosmic Power from Psionic Powers.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by JCurwen3

Nope, for 1 ability you'd use Slotted Cosmic Power from Psionic Powers.

Okay, whatever. What would be the point of Cosmic ModAb (1 at a time -x)?

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Okay, whatever. What would be the point of Cosmic ModAb (1 at a time -x)?

Someone intends to buy down the limitation (Up to X Traits) as play progresses, so as to have more simultaneous traits available to them later?

Its' what I'd do with certain characters.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

I, personally, would use "Limited Use (Fast Reload)" (Basic, pg 112) as a pricing guideline for the "Up To X Traits" limitation on this.

So:
Up to 1 Trait: -20%
Up to 2 Traits: -15%
Up to 4 Traits: -10%
Up to 10 Traits: -5%

That seems reasonable for the low end values of X. Rev's proposal of up to eight instances for the -5% level already seemed a bit much to me. I was thinking maybe it should be capped lower, perhaps at five or six, but I don't have any experience with such a limit to back that up.

[PK]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

Off the top of my head, I'd say X=2 or 3 is worth -10%, X=4 through 8 is worth -5%, and more than that is just a feature.

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

Have you tried these values in a game?

No, hence my prefacing it with, "Off the top of my head." I try to always make it clear when I'm speaking from a position of authority, when I'm speaking about something backed by serious playtesting and thought, and when I'm just rattling off my first thought on a matter. This is a case of the latter.

The numbers for X seem a little high to me, and I would think you'd want some algorithm for adjusting it based on the size of the pool.

Sure, I suppose you could go to the trouble if you wanted to be precise. I'm sure that my answer would need tweaking if applied to (e.g.) a 5-point Cosmic Power versus a 500-point one, for example. But even then, as a GM, I'd still just eyeball the Nuisance Effect, keeping it somewhere between -10% and 0%.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

Sure, I suppose you could go to the trouble if you wanted to be precise. I'm sure that my answer would need tweaking if applied to (e.g.) a 5-point Cosmic Power versus a 500-point one, for example. But even then, as a GM, I'd still just eyeball the Nuisance Effect, keeping it somewhere between -10% and 0%.

But you're pretty solid on it being no worse than a -10% limiter, even at the X=2 level? Sunrunner's post made me think that for some minimum pool size, that level might justifiably rate a bigger limit. OTOH, and IME, players with Modular Abilities do not often spread the points out among several abilities at once, but usually prefer to maximize the effects of one, or two if they can get some synergistic combination.

[BaHalus]

Maybe it should be an amplification on the slot version, rather than an limitation on cosmic. It would have the mixing advantage. You could have, for example, 3 slots with 5 point each and 5 more points with the amplification of possibility to be used in any of the existing slots.

Maybe it could have 2 levels: independent points (can use any point in any slot) and point blocks (can use the point block in a single slot at a time only).

Not sure if the second option is really doable though.